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2026-09-18
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2026-09-20
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3/?
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Hold On (Now I understand why she wanted to destroy everything)

Summary:

After sixteen years of living under her mother’s iron fist, Red had seen many things, and experienced even more. And after everything...the torture, the psychological abuse, the dungeons, the starvation, and the rolling heads. Red knew she was strong. After all, she had survived. That was who she was: a surviving rebel, saved by a princess and a pocket watch.

And when she thought everything would be okay, Maddox happened, but she survived. She survived that too. Everything was okay now. She was in Auradon, she had her mother, her sister, Chloe, Luis, and somehow even Max. She wasn’t alone. Whatever happened to her, Red knew she would handle it. She knew she would survive. After all, her body and mind had already been broken hundreds of times. She was ready for anything.

That was what Red thought, until that moment. Until the moment she walked through that door. Until the moment her world start to disappear before her eyes once again.

And even after everything, nothing could have prepared her for that moment. The moment when Red’s heart broke in an entirely new way.

Chapter 1: Тust another Thursday

Chapter Text

After returning to Auradon from Wonderland, Red had an entirely new challenge ahead of her, school. Which was an entirely new kind of torture. But perhaps an even greater torture than the classes was a certain princess who kept an eye on whether Red actually attended them and pouted whenever the rebel skipped. Because even though Chloe had changed, she was still Chloe. She was still a good girl most of the time, still a straight-A student, and still very much a cliché.

But that was exactly what made Chloe, Chloe, and Red loved her for it, even though she would never admit it. Why?

Because even after everything, Red was still Red, and Red had a reputation to maintain. Even if only one person knew about that reputation, it was still a reputation.

But despite the reputation, despite the annoying classes, and despite the homework, Red enjoyed her new life. She enjoyed her art classes, her music classes. Yes, music. Something that had been missing from Red’s world before, something she now seemed unable to live without. She found biology classes interesting, but confusing. Physics and mathematics were bearable, but boring. None of her teachers could compare to Maddox, and they also questioned her methods. Especially her math teacher, and because of that, Red ended up in Uma’s office for three days in a row second week of the year. This eventually led to a special exam being arranged for Red because the teacher suspected that she was cheating and making things up. But it wasn’t her fault, it really wasn’t. Red wasn’t making anything up; she was simply calculating using the formulas Maddox had taught her.

She even tried to learn Auradon’s methods. She really did, for two weeks. Two torturous weeks during which, every evening, Chloe taught Red, or at least tried to. The heir of Wonderland simply spent the entire time comparing the new methods to what she already knew, and after exactly twelve days, she realized one thing. Auradon mathematics was stupid, simply idiotic. Flat, uninteresting, shallow, and incredibly simplified. Once Red realized that, she simply learned how to pretend, selecting which problems to work on and deliberately working more slowly, less efficiently, no matter how much it annoyed her. She gradually eased into the change and thought she was playing it quite successfully, until one evening Chloe cornered her in their room and asked what was going on. What happened next?

Chloe was not happy. She was actually furious. Red insisted that everything was fine, but Chloe was Chloe, and she did what Chloe did best. She took the initiative. She got university-level practice mathematics exams for Red and simply left them somewhere visible. And Red, because she was Red and because she was simply, well, Red, completed them that same afternoon while listening to music. Chloe was only there for about fifteen minutes after returning from training, but she quickly realized that Red found even those problems easy.

The next day, Uma personally drove Chloe over so she could take the tests in for grading. The professor was surprised and slightly confused. He asked the two of them to wait, and Uma asked what exactly they were there for. Chloe simply said that if she was right, this would solve one of Uma’s biggest problems. The pirate wasn’t convinced, but she waited.

And so the two of them found themselves standing in a room full of professors who were examining Red’s tests. Just as Charming had suspected, it turned out that Red was simply on an entirely different level when it came to mathematics. Uma was surprised and slightly confused. She understood only one thing. The professors wanted to see Red.

So, the following Monday, Red and Chloe were excused from classes. Chloe tricked Red into thinking they were going to see the planetarium. The rebel was not happy when she found herself in a room full of middle-aged men and one woman. She tried to leave, but Chloe simply asked her to look at the first equation. Red tried to refuse again, but Chloe pulled a packet of meringue kisses out of her bag and said they were Red's if she solved it. Red solved the problem in 2 minutes and 26 seconds. And ate the desserts in the same amount of time.

All the professors were in shock, but after about 15 minutes of searching, the mathematicians figured out exactly which methods Red was using. Then they gave her another problem, and Chloe pulled out a white chocolate muffin. Red solved that one in less than 2 minutes. And when one of the professors asked Red a question about one of her methods and where one of the constants came from, Red delved into probability theory and literally explained to everyone why and what the linearity of time actually was. This led to a discussion that lasted two hours, with Red explaining the spatial and temporal laws of mathematics to the mathematicians. As well as the Cheshire Cat theorem, something Chloe only managed to connect to Schrödinger’s cat.

After that, Red genuinely wanted to leave. She insisted that she was hungry and refused to go home before seeing the planetarium. The truth was, she simply wanted to understand what this thing was. After a short discussion and a conversation with Uma, Red was invited to take mathematics classes during the week, and then the girls were taken to the astronomy halls. Red enjoyed a pleasant lecture about stars and planets while munching on a packet of crackers Chloe had given for her.

After that, Uma drove them back to the school. Red sat in the front, strangely quiet. Chloe assumed that the rebel was tired. But that same night, she realized she was wrong. At two in the morning, fireworks went off in the courtyard, waking up the entire school. As it turned out, the comets had inspired Red to create some new fireworks.

And somehow, after all of that, Chloe had been right. She had solved one of Uma’s biggest problems. She had solved Red’s boredom problem, which, despite Red refusing the classes, resulted in her receiving assignments every week and becoming part of the astronomy club. Pink joined later as well.

As it turned out, all the Hearts liked the stars. Somehow, the two of them even dragged all their friends into their little interest. The twins thought the stars were beautiful, Felix simply loved the evening walks, Luis found Red’s excited rambling adorable, Max also turned out to be fascinated by space and the stars, while Hazel simply enjoyed all the snacks Chloe brought to the nighttime observations.

And despite all the trouble the group got themselves into by breaking curfew, Chloe didn’t regret a thing. Not when Red smiled dreamily and pointed at some random star. Overall, the rebel’s time in Auradon was going well. It had its downsides, but it had its advantages too. Like free afternoons, regular meals, a choice of food, and the lack of fences and guards. Auradon turned out to be quite a good playground for Red, despite the teachers and the damn pirates who chased her around every day. And as strange as it was, Red sometimes liked it. It reminded her of running from the guards back home.

Her friends were also a pleasant bonus. Max and Red actually had quite a lot in common, and the two of them often did strange things around the school. Max tested his inventions, while Red tested her chemical experiments. And Hazel turned out not to be so bad. It turned out she could actually be cool when she wanted to. The pirate proved to be quite a good supplier of ingredients for Red. And the brothers were good distractions or good bait. Chloe scolded Red whenever she called them that, but it was true.

And somewhere in the middle of all the chaos, Luis would appear too, always there to catch his friends, especially Red. Their little moment in Wonderland had led to something new, something a little scary, something Red still didn’t have a name for, but it was nice. The two of them had even gone on two dates. The first was a walk, and the second was a movie. Oh, yes, one of Red’s favorite things about Auradon was television. In fact, she and Pink found a shared passion in watching cooking shows. Red loved the drama, the spills, the suspense, and the eliminations, while Pink adored the cooking.

During the holidays, when the Hearts were visiting the Charmings, it actually turned out that Bridget loved cooking shows too. In fact, one afternoon, Bridget, Pink, and Ella made one of the recipes from a show. Which led to a new problem for Chloe and an enormous amount of joy for Red. And no matter how hard the princess tried, she couldn’t completely stop the rebel’s sweet tooth. That was how the Christmas incident with Red and the nine pieces of cake happened. Bridget and Ella were slightly worried, Chad laughed, Pink was horrified when they found Red barely conscious in the kitchen. And Chloe, Chloe just shook her head and insisted that the remaining cake be locked away somewhere. Red wasn’t well for exactly two days and didn’t eat anything sweet for another day after that. Then everything went back to normal, as if she hadn’t spent two days bedridden because of cake.

The rebel’s school life wasn’t much different either. She would stop causing trouble for a day or two, and then start all over again. Uma had punished her so many times that one of the desks in the detention room now had a nameplate with Red’s name on it.

Actually, Red was in detention today too, this time with Hook and Max, because the three of them had been terrorizing a princess. But the princess deserved it. She had been bullying Pink, and only Hazel and Red were allowed to tease Pink. Red had a meeting with the astronomy club, but she decided to stop by their room to freshen up and leave the smoke bombs from her jacket. Today was Thursday, just Thursday. Red and Chloe were going to watch Snow White’s show and eat the cookies Pink had made the night before. Just them, popcorn, sweets, and television. Red couldn’t wait. After all, today was a good day. A very good day, actually. The rebel had gotten a B on her biology test, which was practically a miracle, and her math teacher hadn’t made her solve a single problem at the board.

Red crossed the path to their room at a slow pace. She was already thinking about what they would talk about at the club. Today they were going to discuss supernovas. The rebel gently opened the door to the dorm room.

“Princess?”The space was empty.

She must have gone for an afternoon run, Red decided. Chloe had been doing that quite often lately. After all, it was the middle of the season, and she needed to stay in shape, or so the princess said.

The rebel took off her jacket, gently pulled the smoke bombs out of her secret pocket, crossed the room to the wardrobe, and put them away. Red knew Chloe would scold her if she found out she was walking around their room in her shoes again, but the princess wasn’t there at the moment.

Red sighed contentedly, when she turned around, she saw an envelope on her bed. She stopped. It was white, unlike the ones from her mother. And written across the front was just one word, “Red.” She stared at the handwriting. Red knew that “e.” The heir smiled. A letter from the princess. It was a little strange, but nothing new. Chloe was constantly leaving notes around their room.

Red moved toward the bathroom door and stepped inside with a smile, eager to read Clo’s words. It was one hundred percent going to be something cheesy. But as Red stepped into their bathroom and walked toward the sink, she noticed a glass and a bottle sitting on top of it. The heir washed up and picked up the bottle. The name on it was unfamiliar, and it was half empty. Was it Chloe’s? Red put it back. She would ask her when she saw her.

The wonder slowly turned around and yawned, but when she opened her eyes, everything simply stopped. Her thoughts, the hum of the fan, her breathing. Everything stopped. For a long second, Red simply remained frozen, silent, unable to understand what she was seeing. She slowly stepped forward, dropped to her knees, and reached out. This had to be one of her flashbacks, right? It had to be a nightmare, a distorted memory. But then why did her fingers touch skin? Why did it feel so real beneath her fingertips?

The skin was warm. The face was peaceful, but not like all those nights when Red had watched it simply to make sure this was real, that she was here, here with Chloe. Now it was wrong.

And when Red’s eyes moved downward, her breath caught. And with it, it felt as though the entire world stopped.

Why?

Because Red was strong. She had survived. She had survived her mother, time travel, the evil Maddox. And she was still here, still whole. At least until a moment ago, until her eyes fell on the bathtub.

The bathtub where the beautiful, kind princess with blue hair lay, her wrists cut.

Until Red’s entire world had collapsed in an instant.